Embattled poker machine maker Aristocrat appeared to have few friends left in the market yesterday, after a confusing trading update - widely interpreted as a profit downgrade - sent its shares plunging 16 per cent.

Investors rushed to the exit, with the shares closing down 38c to $2, after Aristocrat said the company's performance in New Zealand and North America had been worse than expected during the second half.

Also, Aristocrat's calendar 2003 earnings will be dented by further write-downs stemming from the company's unsuccessful foray into South America. The company will incur a further $5 million in contract restructuring costs, taking the total amount written off to $8.1 million.

Adding to the bad news, Aristocrat will dock $16.4 million from 2003 revenue after revising an existing agreement with a Peru slot machine operator, Corporacion Meier. The revenue was recognised in 2001 and related to the sale of 3000 slot machines.

Aristocrat will now book the revenue once it has received full payment for the order. The company announced yesterday it had appointed Corporacion Meier as its distributor in Peru, Chile and possibly Ecuador.

The panic selling in Aristocrat shares came after the company called a phone conference to deliver the trading update, with analysts and journalists given just 37 minutes' notice of the call. With acting chief executive David Creary out of the office until lunchtime it was left to the general manager of investor relations, Alan Jury, and the newly appointed chief financial officer, Simon Kelly, to field a barrage of questions.

After two months in the job, Mr Kelly, who was poached from Goodman Fielder Consumer Foods, struggled to answer some questions, relying on Mr Jury to whisper answers to him. While Mr Jury and Mr Kelly refused to put a dollar value on the further deterioration in Aristocrat's performance, they rejected suggestions the announcement was a profit warning.

"This is not a downgrade," Mr Jury said. "This is an update on the performance of our regions from the same update provided in August."

Analysts criticised the vagueness of the update and the board's failure to find a chief executive after a seven-month global search.

"The fact they continue to delay the appointment of a chief executive is leading to uncertainty in the market about the company's turnaround," ABN Amro analyst Sean Monaghan said. "It's time for the board to make a decision and pick a chief executive and it's time for the company to outline its strategy and give earnings guidance to the market."

Mr Monaghan said the confusing announcement would not win friends among investors.

"If you want support [from investors] you make it easier for them to understand the story but today's information is not making it easier," Mr Monaghan said.

Ainsworth Game Technology told shareholders at the company's annual meeting yesterday that it expected to post its first profit in the first half of this year.